In the ancient and luxurious palace in Cairo, Redding, dressed in luxurious clothes, came respectfully to the Sultan Kansu II of the Mamluk Kingdom of Egypt.
Kansu II was a young sultan who had just come to power. He was very ambitious at a young age. The war between the Mamluk Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire had never stopped.
The two countries have been competing for land in North Africa, the Middle East and leadership of the Arab world. However, the Mamluk Kingdom has always been in a disadvantageous position until the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire went to war, which severely damaged the Ottoman Empire and greatly damaged the strength of the Ottoman Empire.
The Mamluk Kingdom finally recovered some of its decline, gained some advantages in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and recovered a lot of land previously occupied by the Ottoman Empire.
The young Kansu II looked at the merchant Redding in front of him. He knew that this Redding was just an ordinary merchant among many merchants.
Later, by doing slave trading business with the Ming Dynasty, he quickly became rich. He became famous in Egypt and even the entire Middle East for his sudden wealth.
"The great Sultan~"
Redding saluted Cansu II very respectfully.
"Redding, why did you come to see me?"
Kansu II nodded with satisfaction, thought for a while and asked.
"Great Sultan, in the past two days, Prime Minister Zuo of Ningguo returned to Tianzhu from the Mediterranean and passed by Egypt. He and I are old friends, so I warmly entertained my friends who came from afar."
"During the chat with him, he proposed a grand plan to me. This is a great plan that is extremely important to Egypt, the great Sudan, and Egypt and the Ming Dynasty."
Redding actively used words to describe the grandeur and greatness of this plan.
His words also made Kansu II look curious, and he immediately asked with a smile: "What great plan?"
"I'm very curious as to what kind of plan it is that can be said to be grand."
"The great Sultan!"
"Prime Minister Liu proposed to build a canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea in Egypt."
Redding pondered for a while and said slowly.
"A canal?"
“Through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea?”
When Kansu II heard this, he immediately opened his eyes slightly.
"Yes, the great Sultan~"
"If you take the sea route from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, you need to go around the entire Africa. The distance is tens of thousands of miles longer. Moreover, the wind and waves along the way are very high, and it is extremely easy to cause accidents. There are shipwrecks every year."
"For the Ming people, this seriously hindered their trade routes to Europe. If a canal could be built through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, it would not only shorten the distance and time, but also reduce the risk of traveling to and from Europe."
"This is very helpful to the people of Ming Dynasty."
"Of course, this is also of great significance to our great Sudan and Egypt."
"After the canal is built, our great Sudan and Egypt can just sit back and collect money. I have calculated that even if a ship charges one hundred taels of silver for one pass, it can pass tens of thousands of times in a year.
You don’t have to do anything for a year and you can receive millions of taels of silver just by collecting tolls.”
"This is definitely a profitable business. As long as there is such a huge income every year, our great Sudan and great Egypt can become richer. By then we can arm more powerful armies and the entire Arab world
They will all be unified by you, the great Sultan."
Redding used seductive words to persuade Cansu II.
"This is indeed a very ambitious plan!"
Kansu II listened carefully, and after pondering for a while, he couldn't help but nod.
If such a canal can really be built, it will indeed be beneficial to the Ming people, but it will also be very beneficial to the Egyptians.
The tolls on this canal are quite generous.
Several million taels of silver a year was a huge temptation for Kansu II.
The political situation of the Mamluk Kingdom has never been very stable. There have been many short-lived sultans, and the changes have been too frequent. The military nobles within the dynasty have become extremely corrupt and degenerate. They were once slaves of the caliph, and then gradually became a military group, and then became a
Egypt's rulers have become extremely corrupt over time.
These military nobles only care about their own interests but have no regard for the interests of the country. Therefore, as long as the policies introduced by the Sudan are not in their interests, they will immediately find ways to overthrow the Sudan and replace him with someone else.
At the same time, externally, uprisings often broke out in areas such as Syria, and the Ottoman Empire was eyeing it. Portugal and Spain in Europe also coveted this place.
It can be said that although the Mamluk Kingdom seems to be quite prosperous now, in fact it has already suffered from internal and external troubles. Historically, the Mamluk Kingdom was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire more than ten years later.
Kansu II, who was well aware of his own situation, was also thinking of ways to solve these problems, the most important of which involved money. Just like the previous Emperor Hongzhi, nothing could be accomplished without money.
If the canal is built, he can gain a huge wealth of one million taels of silver every year, which will be extremely helpful for him to solve domestic and foreign troubles.
"The great Sultan~"
"As long as you agree, we can discuss this matter in detail with the Prime Minister of Ningguo now. The Ming people are willing to bear the funds, technology and construction. We only need to allow them to dig the canal and provide some unimportant help."
"When the canal is built, we can sit down with the Ming people and share the profits equally."
Redding General Kansu II was moved and said quickly.
"Split equally with the people of Ming Dynasty?"
When Kansu II heard this, he frowned slightly, thought for a while and said, "Why can't we open this canal on our own?"
"Great Sultan, you are the greatest being in the world~"
"As long as you are willing, there is nothing you can't do."
When Redding heard this, he quickly flattered him, and then changed the topic and said: "Building the canal will require at least tens of millions of taels of silver, which is an extremely huge amount."
"In addition, building the canal requires hundreds of thousands of huge slaves and extremely high canal construction technology. In these aspects, we are still behind the Ming people."
He used extremely euphemistic words to tell the young Sultan in front of him that he could eat alone if he wanted to, but the key was to see if he had the ability.
Do you have a fortune of tens of millions of taels of silver?
Could you use hundreds of thousands of slaves to build a canal?
Do you have the experience and skills to build a canal?
The construction of the canal is not something that can be done by just opening your mouth. It requires huge manpower, material resources, financial resources and advanced technology to build it.
In the entire world, only the Ming Empire can now come up with such funds, possess such technology, and possess such huge financial and material resources.
"Need tens of millions of taels of silver?"
When Kansu II heard this, he immediately fell silent.
It is true that he cannot come up with such a huge amount of funds. Let alone him, even the whole of Egypt would find it difficult, very difficult.
Not to mention the technology. Over such a long period of time, the Egyptians tried to build the canal several times, but failed every time. This is enough to show that their technology is not good.
But the Ming people were different. During the Tang Dynasty, they built the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which connected the north and south of China. They even built the Ling Canal during the Qin Dynasty to facilitate the Qin army's transportation of grain, grass and baggage to South Vietnam.
go.
A mere two hundred miles of canal was nothing to the people of Ming Dynasty.
"Okay, I can work with the Ming Dynasty people to dig the canal, and we can also share the benefits brought by the canal."
After a moment of silence, Kansu II also expressed his agreement.
There is no other way. If you are interested in this piece of meat and there is no way to get it yourself, then it is a wise choice to partner with others. Otherwise, guarding a piece of desert somewhere will be of no use.
"Great Sultan, you are the embodiment of wisdom."
"I will introduce you to Prime Minister Liu of Ning State. He has also written to Liu Jin, the official secretary of the Ming Dynasty. Liu Jin has unparalleled influence in the entire Ming Dynasty. I believe that this matter will definitely succeed."
"When the canal is built, the great Sultan will be able to obtain huge wealth from it every year. May the great Sultan become the richest man in the world."
When Redding heard this, he immediately became happy and slapped Kansu II hard.
Soon, under Lei Ding's recommendation, Liu Yangzheng, Zhou Jingming and others came to the palace and were received by Kansu II.
In fact, considering the status of Liu Yangzheng and Zhou Jingming, it is very easy to ask to see the Sultan of Egypt. However, if there is nothing to do and you are just passing by, it is naturally better not to disturb him.
Liu Yangzheng and Zhou Jingming also explained their plans in detail to Kansu II and the important ministers and nobles of the Mamluk Kingdom.
Some rough agreements were reached, mainly that everyone would work together to dig the canal. After the canal was dug, the profits would be shared by both parties, half on the Egyptian side and half on the Ming Dynasty side.
The Ming people are responsible for raising the funds needed to dig the canal. The Ming people need to find a way to get 100,000 people. The Egyptian side also needs to provide 100,000 people, for a total of 200,000 people. The plan
The canal will be dug within five years.
The Ming Dynasty people are responsible for the required technology. For other materials that can be solved by the Egyptian side, the Ming Dynasty people are responsible for solving the problems that cannot be solved by the Ming Dynasty people.
It can be said that the negotiations between the two parties were very good. Because of the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Mamluk Kingdom, the Mamluk Kingdom even sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty.
